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First of all Thanx for taking the time to do this Interview! You're welcome, our pleasure!

I guess "Beyond Reality" are you´re fifth outing?! That's right!

After hearing said album im really surprised that I havent heard you guys before! Well we're on a mission to resolve that problem !

I think it is a superb album!! Well, thank you very much ,your opinion is confirmed by many reviews. We believe it's just the beginning of a lot more.

So my first question is:

1. Who are your inspirational sources? I realise there are several, so dont hesitate to name them all....and why!!

For Pieter, it's most of all Billy Sheehan, outstanding bassplayer in Niacin, Mr. Big, Talas and David Lee Roth. Mostly because of his fabulous technique, but also for his wonderful sound.

Roland has got a great variety of inspirational sources. Starting with the impressionist composers from the early twentieth century like Holst, Strawinsky and Szimanovski. But off course I have to mention Yes, KingCrimson, Pink Floyd and Genesis. Last but not least his great example on guitar is Alan Holdsworth, perhaps the best guitar player in this world.

Chris probably has got the most up to date interest in neoprogressive bands. But his great bands are Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Marillion.

Joost has probably got the smallest variety in inspirational sources. It's all about Genesis, Pink Floyd, some Yes and some Marillion.

2. Nice cover art by the way! While we are at that topic....is cover art important? If yes, please tell why!

Well thank you. It's the fine result of a coproduction between graphic designer Jochem Nijs and photographer Bert Lukkien. Yes, we do think cover art work is very important. In our opinion it ought to express the emotions of the album. Since the main subject of each song on Beyond Reality is related to elements of time and space, we think the cover fits the music and lyrics very well.

3. I see by the liner notes that it is a collective compostion/songwriting process!How do you come to terms, when creating a track, a song? An idea emerges and one musician brings forth his idea or? Please elaborate on how you create songs amongst you!?

Well sometimes one of us comes up with a nearly finished piece of music. But it nearly always ends up in rewriting certain parts and all kinds of extensions that it ends up in a different kind of song then we started with. But in other cases songs are created in a series of jamsessions. We just start playing on a riff, a chordsequence or on a certain drumgroove. Even during these jamsessions we always keep in mind that our music has to be one story of the band, and not 4 stories of each player. We record these sessions and send them in MP3 format to the band. Each of us selects the most attractive parts and then we start working out the best parts.

We spend a lot of time in working out the transitions between different parts. They have to be fluent and comprehensible. Listening to long pieces of music with a lot of different parts can be difficult to follow or even understand. That's why we use as many guidelines as possible. Repetitive themes, clear melodies and well considered use of dynamics can be quite helpful to that.